Video Game Design/Developers

Many of us are thoroughly in grind time school year, so for a quick hit of positivity, what wins have you recently had.

I have two:

1. After over a month, I finally got a particular Special Needs student to actually revise on something they made in my graphics class. I wouldn't say they are happy about it, but they actually iterated on something and it has been a major hurdle for them.
2. Wes, Melanie and I finished and submitted our talk proposal for the GDC Educational Summit this year. Which is crazy because of how much better it is than all of the proposals I tried to throw together on my own. It is nice to not submit it with an hour before the window closing for a change.

Today I am doing parent teacher conferences (we have a non-student day for this in lieu of "back to school night"; I recommend it). One very odd bit of information that can be construed as a win so far this year is multiple students are doing well in my Digital Game Design class, but terribly in all of their other classes. So good for me, I guess? I made the conscious effort to slow down the curriculum this year, and it seems to be working. I suppose my hard exterior has softened over the years, lol.

Many of us are thoroughly in grind time school year, so for a quick hit of positivity, what wins have you recently had.

I have two:

1. After over a month, I finally got a particular Special Needs student to actually revise on something they made in my graphics class. I wouldn't say they are happy about it, but they actually iterated on something and it has been a major hurdle for them.
2. Wes, Melanie and I finished and submitted our talk proposal for the GDC Educational Summit this year. Which is crazy because of how much better it is than all of the proposals I tried to throw together on my own. It is nice to not submit it with an hour before the window closing for a change.

Many of us are thoroughly in grind time school year, so for a quick hit of positivity, what wins have you recently had.

I have two:

1. After over a month, I finally got a particular Special Needs student to actually revise on something they made in my graphics class. I wouldn't say they are happy about it, but they actually iterated on something and it has been a major hurdle for them.
2. Wes, Melanie and I finished and submitted our talk proposal for the GDC Educational Summit this year. Which is crazy because of how much better it is than all of the proposals I tried to throw together on my own. It is nice to not submit it with an hour before the window closing for a change.

The pivot from Itopia Labs using Unity to Construct through a browser has been a gamechanger for my Digital Game Design students.  They are actually able to complete the work and are iterating with creative modifications.

Many of us are thoroughly in grind time school year, so for a quick hit of positivity, what wins have you recently had.

I have two:

1. After over a month, I finally got a particular Special Needs student to actually revise on something they made in my graphics class. I wouldn't say they are happy about it, but they actually iterated on something and it has been a major hurdle for them.
2. Wes, Melanie and I finished and submitted our talk proposal for the GDC Educational Summit this year. Which is crazy because of how much better it is than all of the proposals I tried to throw together on my own. It is nice to not submit it with an hour before the window closing for a change.

Many of us are thoroughly in grind time school year, so for a quick hit of positivity, what wins have you recently had.

I have two:

1. After over a month, I finally got a particular Special Needs student to actually revise on something they made in my graphics class. I wouldn't say they are happy about it, but they actually iterated on something and it has been a major hurdle for them.
2. Wes, Melanie and I finished and submitted our talk proposal for the GDC Educational Summit this year. Which is crazy because of how much better it is than all of the proposals I tried to throw together on my own. It is nice to not submit it with an hour before the window closing for a change.

Having gotten a bit fed up doing demos in class on big screen (and showing up live on their screens as well) and having students not following along very well, I drastically cut down on my demo'ing time and came up with GROUP TASK SHEETS!

Basically, its a list of what you need to know how to do for that day, and I give one sheet to each group of adjacent students. They all need to check off that all the members in their group have finished/understand each step. At the end, I randomly pick a task for each member of the group to demo to me and then I sign off on it for the day.

It isn't perfect, and I am not as rigorous with grading it as I should be...but it does have students passing around a paper and asking way more questions of eachother than they would have otherwise.

I really want to improve my classroom vibe from one of heads down struggling on own to looking around asking peers for help, so this is a teeeeny step in that direction.

Many of us are thoroughly in grind time school year, so for a quick hit of positivity, what wins have you recently had.

I have two:

1. After over a month, I finally got a particular Special Needs student to actually revise on something they made in my graphics class. I wouldn't say they are happy about it, but they actually iterated on something and it has been a major hurdle for them.
2. Wes, Melanie and I finished and submitted our talk proposal for the GDC Educational Summit this year. Which is crazy because of how much better it is than all of the proposals I tried to throw together on my own. It is nice to not submit it with an hour before the window closing for a change.

Having gotten a bit fed up doing demos in class on big screen (and showing up live on their screens as well) and having students not following along very well, I drastically cut down on my demo'ing time and came up with GROUP TASK SHEETS!

Basically, its a list of what you need to know how to do for that day, and I give one sheet to each group of adjacent students. They all need to check off that all the members in their group have finished/understand each step. At the end, I randomly pick a task for each member of the group to demo to me and then I sign off on it for the day.

It isn't perfect, and I am not as rigorous with grading it as I should be...but it does have students passing around a paper and asking way more questions of eachother than they would have otherwise.

I really want to improve my classroom vibe from one of heads down struggling on own to looking around asking peers for help, so this is a teeeeny step in that direction.

Many of us are thoroughly in grind time school year, so for a quick hit of positivity, what wins have you recently had.

I have two:

1. After over a month, I finally got a particular Special Needs student to actually revise on something they made in my graphics class. I wouldn't say they are happy about it, but they actually iterated on something and it has been a major hurdle for them.
2. Wes, Melanie and I finished and submitted our talk proposal for the GDC Educational Summit this year. Which is crazy because of how much better it is than all of the proposals I tried to throw together on my own. It is nice to not submit it with an hour before the window closing for a change.

Having gotten a bit fed up doing demos in class on big screen (and showing up live on their screens as well) and having students not following along very well, I drastically cut down on my demo'ing time and came up with GROUP TASK SHEETS!

Basically, its a list of what you need to know how to do for that day, and I give one sheet to each group of adjacent students. They all need to check off that all the members in their group have finished/understand each step. At the end, I randomly pick a task for each member of the group to demo to me and then I sign off on it for the day.

It isn't perfect, and I am not as rigorous with grading it as I should be...but it does have students passing around a paper and asking way more questions of eachother than they would have otherwise.

I really want to improve my classroom vibe from one of heads down struggling on own to looking around asking peers for help, so this is a teeeeny step in that direction.

Many of us are thoroughly in grind time school year, so for a quick hit of positivity, what wins have you recently had.

I have two:

1. After over a month, I finally got a particular Special Needs student to actually revise on something they made in my graphics class. I wouldn't say they are happy about it, but they actually iterated on something and it has been a major hurdle for them.
2. Wes, Melanie and I finished and submitted our talk proposal for the GDC Educational Summit this year. Which is crazy because of how much better it is than all of the proposals I tried to throw together on my own. It is nice to not submit it with an hour before the window closing for a change.

Many of us are thoroughly in grind time school year, so for a quick hit of positivity, what wins have you recently had.

I have two:

1. After over a month, I finally got a particular Special Needs student to actually revise on something they made in my graphics class. I wouldn't say they are happy about it, but they actually iterated on something and it has been a major hurdle for them.
2. Wes, Melanie and I finished and submitted our talk proposal for the GDC Educational Summit this year. Which is crazy because of how much better it is than all of the proposals I tried to throw together on my own. It is nice to not submit it with an hour before the window closing for a change.

We have had a wild ride this year already, we were in lockdown bc a student took a gun out in the hallway, we had a fire in the girls bathroom that resulted in an emergency room visit, bricks of firecrackers lit off in the hallway in 3 different locations, and yet, I close and lock my door to keep the crazy out, and we are having good times.

I am using Godot this year, but we haven't started with it. I started with pixel art, I'm using Libresprite since I cannot get my district to approve Aseprite. We are partaking in the Septembit Challenge. Here's a video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11mBKkltki8, basically you make pixel art animals with severe constraints, black and white, 16 x 16 only, and you put them all on the same page. What happens is over time you see your drawings get better and you learn the tools better. My students are making really cute things. Next up we will do some basic animations in Libresprite, bouncing a ball, jumping, then character states like idle, running, etc. Then we'll open up Godot and get going. My seniors are starting their programming practice for Godot tomorrow since they had Unity and C# all last year, I can jump into it sooner with them.

I had a news article come out a few weeks ago. The SF Chronicle sent a photographer to my room. The story is not really about my class and my class didn't benefit from this Salesforce grant, but they wanted to see someone teaching something related to computer science, so that was me. https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/salesforce-sfusd-ai-training-18352834.php

I took my students to SF State for a field trip. We sat in on a Music Composition for Game class. They had remade Breakout, and had to compose sound effects and music for 20 spots in the game. We are going to do the same project this Fall, but in Godot.

There is a lot that is depressing in education right now, but my kids are thriving.

------------------------------
Owen Peery k12teacher
SAN FRANCISCO CA

Original Message:
Sent: 09-20-2023 11:40
From: Brian Bautista
Subject: Wednesday Discussion - Wins

Many of us are thoroughly in grind time school year, so for a quick hit of positivity, what wins have you recently had.

I have two:

1. After over a month, I finally got a particular Special Needs student to actually revise on something they made in my graphics class. I wouldn't say they are happy about it, but they actually iterated on something and it has been a major hurdle for them.
2. Wes, Melanie and I finished and submitted our talk proposal for the GDC Educational Summit this year. Which is crazy because of how much better it is than all of the proposals I tried to throw together on my own. It is nice to not submit it with an hour before the window closing for a change.

------------------------------
BrianBautistabbautista@rjuhsd.usCA
------------------------------

It is crazy how well kids can just truck through the chaos sometimes.

You got any Godot resources you are thinking of using? not switching this year, but I really want to kick the tires a bit.

------------------------------
BrianBautistabbautista@rjuhsd.usCA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-25-2023 22:51
From: Owen Peery
Subject: Wednesday Discussion - Wins

We have had a wild ride this year already, we were in lockdown bc a student took a gun out in the hallway, we had a fire in the girls bathroom that resulted in an emergency room visit, bricks of firecrackers lit off in the hallway in 3 different locations, and yet, I close and lock my door to keep the crazy out, and we are having good times.

I am using Godot this year, but we haven't started with it. I started with pixel art, I'm using Libresprite since I cannot get my district to approve Aseprite. We are partaking in the Septembit Challenge. Here's a video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11mBKkltki8, basically you make pixel art animals with severe constraints, black and white, 16 x 16 only, and you put them all on the same page. What happens is over time you see your drawings get better and you learn the tools better. My students are making really cute things. Next up we will do some basic animations in Libresprite, bouncing a ball, jumping, then character states like idle, running, etc. Then we'll open up Godot and get going. My seniors are starting their programming practice for Godot tomorrow since they had Unity and C# all last year, I can jump into it sooner with them.

I had a news article come out a few weeks ago. The SF Chronicle sent a photographer to my room. The story is not really about my class and my class didn't benefit from this Salesforce grant, but they wanted to see someone teaching something related to computer science, so that was me. https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/salesforce-sfusd-ai-training-18352834.php

I took my students to SF State for a field trip. We sat in on a Music Composition for Game class. They had remade Breakout, and had to compose sound effects and music for 20 spots in the game. We are going to do the same project this Fall, but in Godot.

There is a lot that is depressing in education right now, but my kids are thriving.

------------------------------
Owen Peery k12teacher
SAN FRANCISCO CA

Original Message:
Sent: 09-20-2023 11:40
From: Brian Bautista
Subject: Wednesday Discussion - Wins

Many of us are thoroughly in grind time school year, so for a quick hit of positivity, what wins have you recently had.

I have two:

1. After over a month, I finally got a particular Special Needs student to actually revise on something they made in my graphics class. I wouldn't say they are happy about it, but they actually iterated on something and it has been a major hurdle for them.
2. Wes, Melanie and I finished and submitted our talk proposal for the GDC Educational Summit this year. Which is crazy because of how much better it is than all of the proposals I tried to throw together on my own. It is nice to not submit it with an hour before the window closing for a change.

------------------------------
BrianBautistabbautista@rjuhsd.usCA
------------------------------

It is crazy how well kids can just truck through the chaos sometimes.

You got any Godot resources you are thinking of using? not switching this year, but I really want to kick the tires a bit.

------------------------------
BrianBautistabbautista@rjuhsd.usCA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-25-2023 22:51
From: Owen Peery
Subject: Wednesday Discussion - Wins

We have had a wild ride this year already, we were in lockdown bc a student took a gun out in the hallway, we had a fire in the girls bathroom that resulted in an emergency room visit, bricks of firecrackers lit off in the hallway in 3 different locations, and yet, I close and lock my door to keep the crazy out, and we are having good times.

I am using Godot this year, but we haven't started with it. I started with pixel art, I'm using Libresprite since I cannot get my district to approve Aseprite. We are partaking in the Septembit Challenge. Here's a video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11mBKkltki8, basically you make pixel art animals with severe constraints, black and white, 16 x 16 only, and you put them all on the same page. What happens is over time you see your drawings get better and you learn the tools better. My students are making really cute things. Next up we will do some basic animations in Libresprite, bouncing a ball, jumping, then character states like idle, running, etc. Then we'll open up Godot and get going. My seniors are starting their programming practice for Godot tomorrow since they had Unity and C# all last year, I can jump into it sooner with them.

I had a news article come out a few weeks ago. The SF Chronicle sent a photographer to my room. The story is not really about my class and my class didn't benefit from this Salesforce grant, but they wanted to see someone teaching something related to computer science, so that was me. https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/salesforce-sfusd-ai-training-18352834.php

I took my students to SF State for a field trip. We sat in on a Music Composition for Game class. They had remade Breakout, and had to compose sound effects and music for 20 spots in the game. We are going to do the same project this Fall, but in Godot.

There is a lot that is depressing in education right now, but my kids are thriving.

------------------------------
Owen Peery k12teacher
SAN FRANCISCO CA

Original Message:
Sent: 09-20-2023 11:40
From: Brian Bautista
Subject: Wednesday Discussion - Wins

Many of us are thoroughly in grind time school year, so for a quick hit of positivity, what wins have you recently had.

I have two:

1. After over a month, I finally got a particular Special Needs student to actually revise on something they made in my graphics class. I wouldn't say they are happy about it, but they actually iterated on something and it has been a major hurdle for them.
2. Wes, Melanie and I finished and submitted our talk proposal for the GDC Educational Summit this year. Which is crazy because of how much better it is than all of the proposals I tried to throw together on my own. It is nice to not submit it with an hour before the window closing for a change.

------------------------------
BrianBautistabbautista@rjuhsd.usCA
------------------------------

It is crazy how well kids can just truck through the chaos sometimes.

You got any Godot resources you are thinking of using? not switching this year, but I really want to kick the tires a bit.

------------------------------
BrianBautistabbautista@rjuhsd.usCA

Original Message:
Sent: 09-25-2023 22:51
From: Owen Peery
Subject: Wednesday Discussion - Wins

We have had a wild ride this year already, we were in lockdown bc a student took a gun out in the hallway, we had a fire in the girls bathroom that resulted in an emergency room visit, bricks of firecrackers lit off in the hallway in 3 different locations, and yet, I close and lock my door to keep the crazy out, and we are having good times.

I am using Godot this year, but we haven't started with it. I started with pixel art, I'm using Libresprite since I cannot get my district to approve Aseprite. We are partaking in the Septembit Challenge. Here's a video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11mBKkltki8, basically you make pixel art animals with severe constraints, black and white, 16 x 16 only, and you put them all on the same page. What happens is over time you see your drawings get better and you learn the tools better. My students are making really cute things. Next up we will do some basic animations in Libresprite, bouncing a ball, jumping, then character states like idle, running, etc. Then we'll open up Godot and get going. My seniors are starting their programming practice for Godot tomorrow since they had Unity and C# all last year, I can jump into it sooner with them.

I had a news article come out a few weeks ago. The SF Chronicle sent a photographer to my room. The story is not really about my class and my class didn't benefit from this Salesforce grant, but they wanted to see someone teaching something related to computer science, so that was me. https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/salesforce-sfusd-ai-training-18352834.php

I took my students to SF State for a field trip. We sat in on a Music Composition for Game class. They had remade Breakout, and had to compose sound effects and music for 20 spots in the game. We are going to do the same project this Fall, but in Godot.

There is a lot that is depressing in education right now, but my kids are thriving.

------------------------------
Owen Peery k12teacher
SAN FRANCISCO CA

Original Message:
Sent: 09-20-2023 11:40
From: Brian Bautista
Subject: Wednesday Discussion - Wins

Many of us are thoroughly in grind time school year, so for a quick hit of positivity, what wins have you recently had.

I have two:

1. After over a month, I finally got a particular Special Needs student to actually revise on something they made in my graphics class. I wouldn't say they are happy about it, but they actually iterated on something and it has been a major hurdle for them.
2. Wes, Melanie and I finished and submitted our talk proposal for the GDC Educational Summit this year. Which is crazy because of how much better it is than all of the proposals I tried to throw together on my own. It is nice to not submit it with an hour before the window closing for a change.

------------------------------
BrianBautistabbautista@rjuhsd.usCA
------------------------------

It is crazy how well kids can just truck through the chaos sometimes.

You got any Godot resources you are thinking of using? not switching this year, but I really want to kick the tires a bit.

------------------------------
BrianBautistabbautista@rjuhsd.usCA

Original Message:
Sent: 09-25-2023 22:51
From: Owen Peery
Subject: Wednesday Discussion - Wins

We have had a wild ride this year already, we were in lockdown bc a student took a gun out in the hallway, we had a fire in the girls bathroom that resulted in an emergency room visit, bricks of firecrackers lit off in the hallway in 3 different locations, and yet, I close and lock my door to keep the crazy out, and we are having good times.

I am using Godot this year, but we haven't started with it. I started with pixel art, I'm using Libresprite since I cannot get my district to approve Aseprite. We are partaking in the Septembit Challenge. Here's a video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11mBKkltki8, basically you make pixel art animals with severe constraints, black and white, 16 x 16 only, and you put them all on the same page. What happens is over time you see your drawings get better and you learn the tools better. My students are making really cute things. Next up we will do some basic animations in Libresprite, bouncing a ball, jumping, then character states like idle, running, etc. Then we'll open up Godot and get going. My seniors are starting their programming practice for Godot tomorrow since they had Unity and C# all last year, I can jump into it sooner with them.

I had a news article come out a few weeks ago. The SF Chronicle sent a photographer to my room. The story is not really about my class and my class didn't benefit from this Salesforce grant, but they wanted to see someone teaching something related to computer science, so that was me. https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/salesforce-sfusd-ai-training-18352834.php

I took my students to SF State for a field trip. We sat in on a Music Composition for Game class. They had remade Breakout, and had to compose sound effects and music for 20 spots in the game. We are going to do the same project this Fall, but in Godot.

There is a lot that is depressing in education right now, but my kids are thriving.

------------------------------
Owen Peery k12teacher
SAN FRANCISCO CA

Original Message:
Sent: 09-20-2023 11:40
From: Brian Bautista
Subject: Wednesday Discussion - Wins

Many of us are thoroughly in grind time school year, so for a quick hit of positivity, what wins have you recently had.

I have two:

1. After over a month, I finally got a particular Special Needs student to actually revise on something they made in my graphics class. I wouldn't say they are happy about it, but they actually iterated on something and it has been a major hurdle for them.
2. Wes, Melanie and I finished and submitted our talk proposal for the GDC Educational Summit this year. Which is crazy because of how much better it is than all of the proposals I tried to throw together on my own. It is nice to not submit it with an hour before the window closing for a change.

------------------------------
BrianBautistabbautista@rjuhsd.usCA
------------------------------

Kenney just released a CC0 starter kit for Godot that might be a good bookmark if anyone goes down that route. 

https://github.com/KenneyNL/Starter-Kit-City-Builder

It is crazy how well kids can just truck through the chaos sometimes.

You got any Godot resources you are thinking of using? not switching this year, but I really want to kick the tires a bit.

------------------------------
BrianBautistabbautista@rjuhsd.usCA

Original Message:
Sent: 09-25-2023 22:51
From: Owen Peery
Subject: Wednesday Discussion - Wins

We have had a wild ride this year already, we were in lockdown bc a student took a gun out in the hallway, we had a fire in the girls bathroom that resulted in an emergency room visit, bricks of firecrackers lit off in the hallway in 3 different locations, and yet, I close and lock my door to keep the crazy out, and we are having good times.

I am using Godot this year, but we haven't started with it. I started with pixel art, I'm using Libresprite since I cannot get my district to approve Aseprite. We are partaking in the Septembit Challenge. Here's a video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11mBKkltki8, basically you make pixel art animals with severe constraints, black and white, 16 x 16 only, and you put them all on the same page. What happens is over time you see your drawings get better and you learn the tools better. My students are making really cute things. Next up we will do some basic animations in Libresprite, bouncing a ball, jumping, then character states like idle, running, etc. Then we'll open up Godot and get going. My seniors are starting their programming practice for Godot tomorrow since they had Unity and C# all last year, I can jump into it sooner with them.

I had a news article come out a few weeks ago. The SF Chronicle sent a photographer to my room. The story is not really about my class and my class didn't benefit from this Salesforce grant, but they wanted to see someone teaching something related to computer science, so that was me. https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/salesforce-sfusd-ai-training-18352834.php

I took my students to SF State for a field trip. We sat in on a Music Composition for Game class. They had remade Breakout, and had to compose sound effects and music for 20 spots in the game. We are going to do the same project this Fall, but in Godot.

There is a lot that is depressing in education right now, but my kids are thriving.

------------------------------
Owen Peery k12teacher
SAN FRANCISCO CA

Original Message:
Sent: 09-20-2023 11:40
From: Brian Bautista
Subject: Wednesday Discussion - Wins

Many of us are thoroughly in grind time school year, so for a quick hit of positivity, what wins have you recently had.

I have two:

1. After over a month, I finally got a particular Special Needs student to actually revise on something they made in my graphics class. I wouldn't say they are happy about it, but they actually iterated on something and it has been a major hurdle for them.
2. Wes, Melanie and I finished and submitted our talk proposal for the GDC Educational Summit this year. Which is crazy because of how much better it is than all of the proposals I tried to throw together on my own. It is nice to not submit it with an hour before the window closing for a change.

------------------------------
BrianBautistabbautista@rjuhsd.usCA
------------------------------

Kenney just released a CC0 starter kit for Godot that might be a good bookmark if anyone goes down that route. 

https://github.com/KenneyNL/Starter-Kit-City-Builder

It is crazy how well kids can just truck through the chaos sometimes.

You got any Godot resources you are thinking of using? not switching this year, but I really want to kick the tires a bit.

------------------------------
BrianBautistabbautista@rjuhsd.usCA

Original Message:
Sent: 09-25-2023 22:51
From: Owen Peery
Subject: Wednesday Discussion - Wins

We have had a wild ride this year already, we were in lockdown bc a student took a gun out in the hallway, we had a fire in the girls bathroom that resulted in an emergency room visit, bricks of firecrackers lit off in the hallway in 3 different locations, and yet, I close and lock my door to keep the crazy out, and we are having good times.

I am using Godot this year, but we haven't started with it. I started with pixel art, I'm using Libresprite since I cannot get my district to approve Aseprite. We are partaking in the Septembit Challenge. Here's a video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11mBKkltki8, basically you make pixel art animals with severe constraints, black and white, 16 x 16 only, and you put them all on the same page. What happens is over time you see your drawings get better and you learn the tools better. My students are making really cute things. Next up we will do some basic animations in Libresprite, bouncing a ball, jumping, then character states like idle, running, etc. Then we'll open up Godot and get going. My seniors are starting their programming practice for Godot tomorrow since they had Unity and C# all last year, I can jump into it sooner with them.

I had a news article come out a few weeks ago. The SF Chronicle sent a photographer to my room. The story is not really about my class and my class didn't benefit from this Salesforce grant, but they wanted to see someone teaching something related to computer science, so that was me. https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/salesforce-sfusd-ai-training-18352834.php

I took my students to SF State for a field trip. We sat in on a Music Composition for Game class. They had remade Breakout, and had to compose sound effects and music for 20 spots in the game. We are going to do the same project this Fall, but in Godot.

There is a lot that is depressing in education right now, but my kids are thriving.

------------------------------
Owen Peery k12teacher
SAN FRANCISCO CA

Original Message:
Sent: 09-20-2023 11:40
From: Brian Bautista
Subject: Wednesday Discussion - Wins

Many of us are thoroughly in grind time school year, so for a quick hit of positivity, what wins have you recently had.

I have two:

1. After over a month, I finally got a particular Special Needs student to actually revise on something they made in my graphics class. I wouldn't say they are happy about it, but they actually iterated on something and it has been a major hurdle for them.
2. Wes, Melanie and I finished and submitted our talk proposal for the GDC Educational Summit this year. Which is crazy because of how much better it is than all of the proposals I tried to throw together on my own. It is nice to not submit it with an hour before the window closing for a change.

------------------------------
BrianBautistabbautista@rjuhsd.usCA
------------------------------

Already shared it with my seniors, they are excited. What they are seeing in real time is real community. They are amazed how much sharing and collaboration goes on in open source and starting to see the value of it.

Kenney just released a CC0 starter kit for Godot that might be a good bookmark if anyone goes down that route. 

https://github.com/KenneyNL/Starter-Kit-City-Builder

It is crazy how well kids can just truck through the chaos sometimes.

You got any Godot resources you are thinking of using? not switching this year, but I really want to kick the tires a bit.

------------------------------
BrianBautistabbautista@rjuhsd.usCA

Original Message:
Sent: 09-25-2023 22:51
From: Owen Peery
Subject: Wednesday Discussion - Wins

We have had a wild ride this year already, we were in lockdown bc a student took a gun out in the hallway, we had a fire in the girls bathroom that resulted in an emergency room visit, bricks of firecrackers lit off in the hallway in 3 different locations, and yet, I close and lock my door to keep the crazy out, and we are having good times.

I am using Godot this year, but we haven't started with it. I started with pixel art, I'm using Libresprite since I cannot get my district to approve Aseprite. We are partaking in the Septembit Challenge. Here's a video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11mBKkltki8, basically you make pixel art animals with severe constraints, black and white, 16 x 16 only, and you put them all on the same page. What happens is over time you see your drawings get better and you learn the tools better. My students are making really cute things. Next up we will do some basic animations in Libresprite, bouncing a ball, jumping, then character states like idle, running, etc. Then we'll open up Godot and get going. My seniors are starting their programming practice for Godot tomorrow since they had Unity and C# all last year, I can jump into it sooner with them.

I had a news article come out a few weeks ago. The SF Chronicle sent a photographer to my room. The story is not really about my class and my class didn't benefit from this Salesforce grant, but they wanted to see someone teaching something related to computer science, so that was me. https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/salesforce-sfusd-ai-training-18352834.php

I took my students to SF State for a field trip. We sat in on a Music Composition for Game class. They had remade Breakout, and had to compose sound effects and music for 20 spots in the game. We are going to do the same project this Fall, but in Godot.

There is a lot that is depressing in education right now, but my kids are thriving.

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Owen Peery k12teacher
SAN FRANCISCO CA

Original Message:
Sent: 09-20-2023 11:40
From: Brian Bautista
Subject: Wednesday Discussion - Wins

Many of us are thoroughly in grind time school year, so for a quick hit of positivity, what wins have you recently had.

I have two:

1. After over a month, I finally got a particular Special Needs student to actually revise on something they made in my graphics class. I wouldn't say they are happy about it, but they actually iterated on something and it has been a major hurdle for them.
2. Wes, Melanie and I finished and submitted our talk proposal for the GDC Educational Summit this year. Which is crazy because of how much better it is than all of the proposals I tried to throw together on my own. It is nice to not submit it with an hour before the window closing for a change.

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BrianBautistabbautista@rjuhsd.usCA
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Did you see what Brakeys recently posted? 

https://x.com/brackeystweet/status/1707381306940670323?s=46&t=pnWC0kTszF_a57kForyYsA

Get Outlook for iOS

Already shared it with my seniors, they are excited. What they are seeing in real time is real community. They are amazed how much sharing and collaboration goes on in open source and starting to see the value of it.

Kenney just released a CC0 starter kit for Godot that might be a good bookmark if anyone goes down that route. 

https://github.com/KenneyNL/Starter-Kit-City-Builder

It is crazy how well kids can just truck through the chaos sometimes.

You got any Godot resources you are thinking of using? not switching this year, but I really want to kick the tires a bit.

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BrianBautistabbautista@rjuhsd.usCA

Original Message:
Sent: 09-25-2023 22:51
From: Owen Peery
Subject: Wednesday Discussion - Wins

We have had a wild ride this year already, we were in lockdown bc a student took a gun out in the hallway, we had a fire in the girls bathroom that resulted in an emergency room visit, bricks of firecrackers lit off in the hallway in 3 different locations, and yet, I close and lock my door to keep the crazy out, and we are having good times.

I am using Godot this year, but we haven't started with it. I started with pixel art, I'm using Libresprite since I cannot get my district to approve Aseprite. We are partaking in the Septembit Challenge. Here's a video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11mBKkltki8, basically you make pixel art animals with severe constraints, black and white, 16 x 16 only, and you put them all on the same page. What happens is over time you see your drawings get better and you learn the tools better. My students are making really cute things. Next up we will do some basic animations in Libresprite, bouncing a ball, jumping, then character states like idle, running, etc. Then we'll open up Godot and get going. My seniors are starting their programming practice for Godot tomorrow since they had Unity and C# all last year, I can jump into it sooner with them.

I had a news article come out a few weeks ago. The SF Chronicle sent a photographer to my room. The story is not really about my class and my class didn't benefit from this Salesforce grant, but they wanted to see someone teaching something related to computer science, so that was me. https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/salesforce-sfusd-ai-training-18352834.php

I took my students to SF State for a field trip. We sat in on a Music Composition for Game class. They had remade Breakout, and had to compose sound effects and music for 20 spots in the game. We are going to do the same project this Fall, but in Godot.

There is a lot that is depressing in education right now, but my kids are thriving.

------------------------------
Owen Peery k12teacher
SAN FRANCISCO CA

Original Message:
Sent: 09-20-2023 11:40
From: Brian Bautista
Subject: Wednesday Discussion - Wins

Many of us are thoroughly in grind time school year, so for a quick hit of positivity, what wins have you recently had.

I have two:

1. After over a month, I finally got a particular Special Needs student to actually revise on something they made in my graphics class. I wouldn't say they are happy about it, but they actually iterated on something and it has been a major hurdle for them.
2. Wes, Melanie and I finished and submitted our talk proposal for the GDC Educational Summit this year. Which is crazy because of how much better it is than all of the proposals I tried to throw together on my own. It is nice to not submit it with an hour before the window closing for a change.

------------------------------
BrianBautistabbautista@rjuhsd.usCA
------------------------------